Suspect In Deadly Manchester Robbery Rejects Deal

HARTFORD — The suspected getaway driver in an attempted robbery in Manchester during which a convenience store employee was killed rejected a plea bargain offer on Friday.

Maurice Dixon, who is charged with murder and attempt to commit first-degree robbery, will take his case to trial in Superior Court in Hartford.

The gunman, Charles Wilson, was sentenced to 55 years in prison in October last year for the 2011 shooting and other crimes, including another homicide in Hartford. Wilson had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of felony murder and two counts of first-degree assault.

Judge Joan Alexander told Dixon there have been cases similar to his in which the person who didn't do the actual shooting takes his case to trial and gets as much prison time, or more, as the shooter who took a plea deal.

Dixon said he understood.

According to police, Dixon admitted to being the getaway driver in the attempted robbery on May 22, 2011, where Wilson shot and killed Aurang Zaib Sahi, the store keeper at the Super Convenience Store in Manchester.

A video recording of the robbery and murder showed Sahi with his hands in the air when Wilson raised the semiautomatic pistol and shot Sahi in the head.